Is the Harper government growing increasingly nervous about opposition to its push for massive oil sands development and the North Gateway Pipeline?

It would seem so listening to five Calgarians and a wannabe Calgarian from Quebec who were vying for the Conservative nomination for a by-election in the riding of Calgary Centre, home to dozens of oil company towers and one of the safest Conservative seats in the country.

They just didn’t sound that confident about the Prime Minister’s tactics for winning the hearts and minds of Canadians outside Alberta.

“Alberta needs some friends….We need to get out the message about our industry to Ontario, to the rest of Canada,” former journalist Joan Crockatt told a public forum last week.

Crockatt eventually won the nomination. Her journalism experience, she said, made her the best suited of all the contestants to tell Canadians just how important the oil sands are to the country’s economy. She also believes the PCs need to step up their defense of the oil industry rather than let environmentalists control the game.

“We are looking after our environment …we’re proud of what we are contributing to the national scene,” she said.

But Crockatt wasn’t the only Conservative vying for that prized nomination who believes the Harper government needs to do more to convince the rest of Canada that oil sands development is good for them.

Rick Billington, a lawyer and member of the Prime Minister’s constituency association board, said the energy industry needs a strong advocate and he was eager to take on the job because “Harper can’t carry the file alone.”

Jon Lord a former PC MLA and Calgary alderman said “we need to tell our story better.”

If this seems a particularly Alberta view of the world, it isn’t. Apparently even some people from Quebec feel the same way.

Joe Soares who recently moved to Calgary from Gatineau, wore a white cowboy hat during the forum and was the most blunt about the need for the Conservatives to step up their game when it comes to defending the oil sands.

A one-time policy advisor in the PM’s office, Soares said NDP leader Tom Mulcair and “his socialist wrecking crew” reminded him of Pierre Trudeau and National Energy Program. That brought a few groans from some of the 350 people in the audience.

When asked what he would do if Mulcair became Prime Minister, Soares said (with a distinct John Wayne drawl): “I would give him a French lesson. No merci. Hands off our oil sands…they are not a disease.” His fans in the audience then shot up signs that read “Protect our Oil Sands.”

Most of the opposition to the Northern Gateway Pipeline which would move diluted bitumen from the oil sands through British Columbia to the coast, comes from British Columbia. But neither that project, nor that province, were mentioned by those vying for the Conservative nomination. After all, the Conservatives hold most of the federal seats in B.C so it wouldn’t have been wise to pick a fight with Alberta’s neighbour.

But it was clear that this group of active Conservatives is worried about the growing resistance to Alberta’s oil sands plans. And they are particularly worried about the impact that Mulcair and the NDP are having on public opinion. Nobody even mentioned the Liberals.

An opinion poll released only hours before the forum certainly confirmed those fears.

Regionally, Albertans were most likely to agree (74%) while Quebecers (56%) and British Columbians (52%) were most likely to disagree.

Thirty-one per cent of respondents said they either strongly or somewhat supported the Northern Gateway Pipeline, while 32 per cent opposed it. According to Abacus Data, this represents a seven-point decline in support since January 2012 and a three point increase in opposition.

No wonder Conservative are worried. No wonder Alberta Conservatives want their Prime Minister to step up his sales pitch.

Gillian Steward is a Calgary writer and journalist, and former managing editor of the Calgary Herald. Her column appears every other week. gsteward@telus.net.

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